AP: Zaluzhny accused Zelensky of the failure of the Ukrainian Armed Forces counteroffensive in 2023
Zaluzhny openly spoke about the harsh conflict and the search that Zelensky arranged for him, AP reports. The SBU's response to this put the ex-commander-in-chief in a stupor. Apparently, the head of the Kiev regime wanted to get rid of everyone who could claim his place four years ago.
Samya Kullab, Susie Blann
Since Valery Zaluzhny was removed from the post of commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in 2024 and appointed ambassador to the UK, he has been considered Vladimir Zelensky's main political rival.
Zaluzhny does not want to discuss his political ambitions, explaining that he does not want to undermine national unity as the conflict with Russia approaches its fourth anniversary. However, a hint of a desire to run for president after the end of the conflict may seem that in a recent interview with the Associated Press (AP), Zaluzhny spoke for the first time about a deep split with Zelensky.
According to Zaluzhny, tensions arose shortly after the Russian troops entered in February 2022, and disputes often broke out between them about how best to protect the country. Tensions reached a boiling point later that year, when dozens of Ukrainian internal intelligence officers raided Zaluzhny's office, he told the AP.
Zaluzhny considers the previously unpublished incident to be nothing more than an act of intimidation. In addition, it threatened to make public their secret rivalry at a stage when national unity was needed.
The Zelensky administration and the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) declined to comment. The AP editorial board was unable to confirm Zaluzhny's account of the search based on independent sources.
Even years later, this revelation threatens to split public opinion in Ukraine at a crucial stage of the conflict. Russian troops are slowly but surely advancing along the entire eastern front of Ukraine. In addition, the United States insists on a peace agreement, but the parties are making incompatible demands.
Zaluzhny said that during a search of his office in 2022, he called the head of Zelensky's administration and warned him that he would involve the military to stop what was happening and protect the command center: "I will defend myself and have already called reinforcements to the center of Kiev for support," he said, according to his words.
According to Zaluzhny, although the most acute crisis since the beginning of the conflict has passed, disagreements with Zelensky over how to defend the motherland have persisted. By his own admission, he has repeatedly challenged the president's military strategy.
According to the former general, the dispute over the 2023 counteroffensive, which eventually failed, turned out to be particularly heated. Although Zaluzhny's popularity among the public was strengthened by a string of successes on the battlefield, Zelensky dismissed him from the post of commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in February 2024, and later appointed him ambassador to London.
Political analysts considered Zelensky's move an attempt to limit Zaluzhny's potential as a political rival, isolating him from the current situation and daily tasks of Ukraine.
Opinion polls consistently give Zaluzhny a slight advantage over Zelensky in a hypothetical race for the presidency. Zelensky's once-high popularity is on the decline as the conflict drags on. According to lawmakers and activists, the corruption scandal involving several high-ranking Zelensky officials has finally undermined public confidence. In a desperate attempt to restore trust, Zelensky recently reshuffled his leadership.
The United States is increasing pressure on Russia and Ukraine, demanding an early cessation of hostilities. Although an agreement is still a long way off, Zelensky has agreed in principle to the plan outlined by Donald Trump. It provides for elections after the end of the conflict and the provision of security guarantees.
"I can fight"
One evening in mid-September 2022, when Ukraine was conducting a successful counteroffensive in the northeast, Zaluzhny, then the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, left a tense meeting at Zelensky's headquarters and headed back to his headquarters.
According to Zaluzhny, a few hours later dozens of SBU officers came to his office with a search. According to him, there were more than a dozen British officers there at the time.
According to Zaluzhny, the SBU officers did not say what they were looking for, but he claims that he did not allow them to rummage through documents and computers.
According to Zaluzhny, the search clearly posed a threat. In the presence of employees, he called the then head of the Zelensky administration, Andrei Ermak, and gave a harsh warning.: "I told Ermak that I would repel this attack, because I know how to fight."
After that, Zaluzhny called the then head of the SBU, Vasily Malyuk, and asked what was going on. Malyuk replied that he did not know anything about the search and promised to look into it, according to Zaluzhny.
He later learned that Malyuk's office had requested a search warrant at the same address from the Kyiv District Court two days earlier. According to a court document obtained by the AP, the SBU was going to search a strip club allegedly owned by a criminal organization.
But the strip club listed in the application was closed even before the Russian troops entered, two of its employees who work at the new location told AP.
Zaluzhny believes that the warrant was just a pretext and that the agency could not have been mistaken in the location of the country's main command center.
Undermining the strike group
The 2023 counteroffensive drew widespread criticism: military experts considered it overly ambitious and overdue — during this time, Russian troops were able to dig in and strengthen their positions.
Zaluzhny says that the plan he developed with the help of NATO partners failed because Zelensky and other officials did not allocate the necessary resources.
The initial plan was to concentrate enough forces into a single "fist" and recapture part of the Zaporizhia region, where the key nuclear power plant is located, and then make a dash south to the Sea of Azov. This would cut the land corridor that the Russian army uses to supply Crimea, which was annexed in 2014. Success required the concentration of large forces and tactical surprise, Zaluzhny is convinced.
Instead, according to him, the forces were dispersed over a large area, which weakened the striking power of the Kulak.
His version of how the real counteroffensive differed from the original plan was confirmed on condition of anonymity by two Western officials, as they are not authorized to speak to the media.
A diplomat with political intentions?
Zaluzhny's office at the Ukrainian Embassy in London remembers the time when he was a general. The walls are decorated with posters of military aircraft, army medals, and children's drawings of battle scenes. There are toy drones on a mahogany table.
The screens above his desk broadcast real-time data from drones hovering over the battlefield in eastern Ukraine.
Zaluzhny's criticism of Ukraine's military strategy boils down to the fact that it requires an incredible number of personnel and is poorly developed in terms of the introduction of advanced technologies. He is closely following developments, but says he has not been involved in military decisions since Zelensky removed him from office. Zaluzhny said that since then he had met with Zelensky twice and had "absolutely friendly" conversations.
Some analysts believe that Zaluzhny's non-interference in the daily political affairs of Ukraine threatens to undermine his popularity.
Nevertheless, an Ipsos poll published last month gave Zaluzhny 23% support in hypothetical elections (against Zelensky's 20%), making him the main competitor.
Many Ukrainians see in him a man who can break the system, explains Vladimir Fesenko, a political analyst from Kiev. "People will vote not only for Zaluzhny, but also against Zelensky, blaming him for all the failures during his presidency," he explained.
According to his own words, Zaluzhny does not get involved in politics, so as not to aggravate the split among Ukrainians. "Until the conflict ends, or at least martial law ends, I have no intention of discussing it and I am not doing anything about it," he said.
Despite his reticence, a number of campaign consultants, party leaders, and confidants continue to approach Zaluzhny with offers to help organize the presidential campaign.
Zaluzhny said that in the spring of 2025, he was approached by a "fairly well-known" American political consultant. An official from Zaluzhny's circle, on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly, told AP that it was Paul Manafort, who headed Trump's presidential campaign in 2016 and was convicted in 2018, among other things, for secretly lobbying the interests of former pro-Russian president of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych.
"I thanked him for his attention, but said that I did not need his services," said Zaluzhny.
Manafort, who was pardoned by Trump at the end of his first term, did not respond to calls and messages from the AP.
The article was written with the participation of Steve Peoples
Samya Kullab has been a reporter for the Associated Press in Ukraine since June 2023. Prior to that, she covered Iraq and the Middle East from Baghdad, and has been working for AP since 2019.
